Youth player cops Balmain United’s Top Award

ISSA ALI was adjudged “Player of the Year” when the Ramlagan’s Balmain United Literary Cricket Club held their 2023 prize-giving awards function on Saturday evening

19th of June 2023

Youth player cops Balmain United’s Top Award || Picture Courtesy: Cricket360 (Facebook)

ISSA ALI was adjudged “Player of the Year” when the Ramlagan’s Balmain United Literary Cricket Club held their 2023 prize-giving awards function on Saturday evening, according to the update by Cricket360.

The youngster copped the most wickets in the season for Balmain and was also among the “Five Youth Cricketers of the Year.”

The event was billed as the first prize giving of the year for any club and staged at the Alloy Lequay Administration Centre of the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva.

As per the update, also sharing the honours was Daniel Deoraj, who scored the most runs and was also awarded the best average among the club’s batters. Ricardo Surujbally emerged as the bowler with the best average.

Apart from Ali, the other “Youth Players of the Year” were Aadi Ramsaran, Jaden Joseph, Liam Gerrard and Craif Aziz.

Cricket360 noted that also receiving a special award was Azim Bassarath, president of the
Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, who earlier this year was elected unopposed as vice-president of Cricket West Indies.

President of Balmain United, Mishri Lutchmedial, said Saturday’s function was continuing a proud tradition of acknowledging its top performers every season since the formation of the club in 1943.

Lutchmedial said the 2023 season was a challenging one, but he was proud of the effort of the players who maintained their position in Division One of the Central Zone.

He highlighted their unbeaten streak of ten successive matches comprising five T20s and five 30-overs, and on reaching the last eight of both competitions.

Lutchmedial said the club was well served by coach Ishwar Ramnath and its captain Daniel Deoraj and predicted a more successful season in 2024.

He said Balmain United will continue to place its emphasis on the development of its youth players and has put in place an incentive program to keep them motivated.

Delivering the feature address was former Director of Public Prosecution Geoffrey Henderson, who is now a senior judge in the Criminal Division of the High Court.

In 2013 Justice Henderson was appointed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands and featured in several high-profile trials, including those involving Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Jean-Pierre BambaGombo, Laurent Gbagbo, and Charles Ble Goude; Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourean, and Bosco Ntaganda.

Justice Henderson also worked on pretrial situations in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh/Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Georgia, and the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

An avowed cricket fan who says he would like to see the West Indies return to the top of the international ladder, Justice Henderson says sitting on the bench has given a unique perspective on the positive effects that cricket can have on the lives of young people.

He said it instils discipline in their lives and provides an alternative to the other influences that can lead them into criminal activity.

Justice Henderson said it had been his experience that West Indian cricketers are recognised all over the world, and he saw no reason why the Balmain United youngsters can strive to attain the highest levels of the game.

According to the report by Cricket360, the function was attended by Member of Parliament for Couva South, Rudranath Indarsingh, and local government councillors Arlene Ramesar and Ramchand Rajbal Maraj.